Canadian police set off blast to catch saboteurs

Published: Saturday, January 30, 1999

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - In an effort to solve a series of sabotage attacks on oil-industry facilities, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and an energy company covertly conducted an explosion themselves, authorities say.

A government prosecutor confirmed the incident Thursday after it was reported by the defense lawyer for two men arrested in the overall sabotage campaign. There have been more than 160 incidents of sabotage and vandalism in northern Alberta over the past two years.

Prosecutor Steven Koval confirmed that police were involved in an Oct. 14 explosion that destroyed a shed at an Alberta Energy Co. oil well site in northern Alberta.

Defense lawyer Richard Secord suggested police may have staged the explosion to establish the credibility of an informant, trying to make it appear the informant caused the blast so that the two arrested men would trust him as an ally.

"It's wrong for the police to engage in that kind of activity," Secord said after failing to win bail for his two clients, Wiebo Ludwig and Richard Boonstra.

Ludwig, patriarch of a Christian commune in the northeast Alberta town of Hythe, and Boonstra, a commune member, were arrested earlier this month on nine charges, including counseling a third person to commit mischief and counseling that person to obtain explosives.

Ludwig contends emissions from oil and gas wells have caused miscarriages, stillbirths and animal deaths at his farm, 300 miles northwest of Edmonton.

He has never explicitly admitted engaging in sabotage, but he has never categorically denied it either.

The commander of the Mounties in Alberta, assistant commissioner Don McDermid, declined to comment directly on the case, but acknowledged his force did engage in covert operations.

"So many things in police work are based on a calculated risk," he said. "If it's totally, totally inappropriate, we're reminded by the courts that we've stepped over the line."

Dick Wilson, a spokesman for Alberta Energy, also hinted at his company's involvement.

"All operators in the area that had been victims of vandalism and terrorism, when asked to cooperate with RCMP would do so and will oblige," he said.